Sealing mechanism



Aug. 4, 1942. R, AHLE 2,291,932

SEALING ME CHANISM Filed March 20, 194] 3 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 4, 1942. R. VAHLE SEALING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 20, 1941 Aug. 4, 1942. R. VAHLE SEALING MECHANISM Filed March 20, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 riff/ v E WE Patented Aug. 4, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEALING MECHANISM Raymond Vahl'e, Tappa-n, N. Y., assignor to Leon Benoit, New York, N. Y.

Application March 20, 1941, :Serial No. 384,235

11 Claims. (01. 21629) The sealing mechanism of the present invention is designed as an improvement or modification of that shown and described in Patent No. 2,116,259, issued May 3, 1938, to Leon Benoit and Clifiord C. Moth, and is intended for use in conjunction with a carton-closing machine of the type illustrated in Patent No. 2,091,426, issued August 31, 1937, although the present sealing mechanism may be otherwise employed in conjunction with carton-closing mechanism or for the purpose of sealing cartons closed by hand, or for the purpose of applying stamps, seals, labels, or the like, to cartons, boxes, or other articles generally.

The mechanism is designed primarily to seal the cover :flaps of an egg carton, which is so constructed as to provide a carton body having side walls each terminating in a cover flap adapted to be folded inwardly and downwardly to overlie the carton body; Each of the cover flaps terminates in a marginal tucking flap, and when closed the two tucking flaps extend rdownwardly in vertical relation to the carton body and in contact with one another along the longitudinal center partition, which divides the carton into two rows of cells and is 'afiorded by folding the carton body upwardly along the longitudinal center. The carton body itself affords two trough-shaped compartments, which are divided into cells by the provision of vertical cross partitions which are entered through slots in the trough-shaped divisions :of the body, with which they interlock in a manner to be more fully described hereafter.

The sealing mechanism is designed to be actuated through a cycle of movements by the passage of each carton, box, or other object to which it is desired to apply a sealing strip, seal, label or the like, and to feed downwardly a section of gummed tape from a roll and sever the section and apply the same to the joint or seam, or to other portions of the exposed surface of the carton or other article.

In Patent No. 2,116,259, the power for actuating the strip feeding and cutting mechanisms was afforded by pressure exerted by the advancing carton or the like, which power was utilized to actuate the train of mechanisms employed in the strip feeding and cutting operations, but this method of actuating the feeding and cutting mechanisms imposes a somewhat heavy load upon the structure of the cartons, and also requires that the cross partitions of each carton shall extend below the base walls of thecarton bottom in order to afiord a plurality of contactsing surfaces for continuing the operation of the feeding :and cutting mechanisms during the passage of the carton through the sealing region,

and of necessity requires that the carton shall be sufiiciently strong and rugged to impart the required pressure. The method previously patented, moreover, precluded the use of the device in the sealing of cartons which were not constructed in a manner adapting them for use in accordance with the above scheme of operations or for the sealing of (flat bottom boxes or other articles of a like nature.

The apparatus of the present invention employs feeding and cutting mechanisms and moisten-ing devices of the character previouslypatented, but provides a train of connections deriving power .from another source, with suitable trip mechanism for engaging the ieeding and cutting devices with said source of power immediately upon the arrival of each carton at the sealing position, so that no undue load is imposed upon the carton itsel f inactuating the mechanisms referred to, and at the same time the operation of such mechanisms throughout the intended cycle is in .no way dependent upon the shape or form of the carton or other object, since the only pressure required is that necessary to initially trip the mechanism, after which the operation will proceed under power from another source.

In the sealing operations .for which the present invention is intended, it is desirable to make provision tor the sealing of cartons .of the dozen,

double half dozen, and half dozen types, and provision .is made for suitable adjustments which will insure the application of the seals or labels in the proper position, depending upon the type of carton to be sealed and the number of seals or the like to be cut and applied.

Further objects and details will appear from the description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine of the present invention as applied to the discharge end of a carton closing machine of the type shown in Patent No. 2,116,259;

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of a so called dozen carton, which provides two adjacent rows of six cells each for the reception of a dozen eggs, with the seal applied to the center .0! the carton;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a half dozen carton;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the feeding table for the cartons, and illustrating the location and arrangement of the power train and trip mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. '7 is a cross sectional view taken on line of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of th arrows; and

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional elevation taken on line 88 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows.

' figured as shown in Fig. 6.

or uninterrupted rotation to the ratchet teeth under power derived from any suitable source.

The ratcheted end of the sleeve 28 stands in adjacent relation to the face of a hub 34 rigid with the shaft 29 and carrying an arm 35, which is grooved on its face to afford a guideway for a dog 36 backed by a spring 31 held in place by a cap plate 38. The dog is provided with an outwardly extending pin or roller 39 which travels within a concentric guide groove 40 formed in the face of a fixed bracket plate 4|, and con- The groove on its inner upper side is provided with an offset or Fig. 9 is an elevation of the trip member in 7 position for the carton to engage arm .68.

The type of carton for the sealing of which the present invention is primarily designed is one in which the body portion is formed of a single sheet of material which is upwardly bent or folded along its longitudinal center to afford a double wall partition |0, the lower sections l of which are flared outwardly and unite along the bend I2 with the side walls |3'in the formation of adjacent trough-shaped compartments extending from end to end of the carton. The side walls are bent inwardly along the upper outer corners M to affordcover sections l5 which terminate in inturned tucking flaps |6 which lie adjacent to one side of the double wall partition Ill. The side walls l3 and the inner flared walls H .are cross slotted to receive the cross partitions seven in number in Fig. 2, which divide the carton, into two rows of six cells each. .The. carton of Fig. 3 is identical with that last described save for the fact that. the middle of the carton is weakened by a scoring or cutting line I8 which necessitates the employment of spaced companion cross walls H on either side of the center, which afford the end walls when the carton is divided. 7

The carton of Fig. 4 is identical in structure with the carton first described save as to length and capacity, four cross walls being provided to afford two rows of three cells in each row.

Fig. 1 shows a dozen carton advancingto the sealing position along a fiat table or runway, consisting of two plates l9, which are spaced to afford a center gap or opening beneath which is located an endless feed chain provided at recurrent intervals with outstanding lugs 2| which serve as abutments for engaging the cross walls of a filled and closed carton and carrying the same forward to the sealing point. The forward turn of the feed chain is carried around a sprocket 22, which may be power driven or may be an idler for the carrying of the chain which is constantly driven from any suitable source of power, as for instance the power em ployed for actuating the carton closing mechanisms.

. The sprocket 22 is fixed upon a shaft 23, the

' ends of which are. supported within journals 24 suitably carried by the frame of the machine, and the. shaft also mountsa sprocket 25 carrying a transmission chain 26 which passes around a sprocket 21 fixedly mounted upon a ratchet sleeve 28 freely mounted upon a shaft 29, which is journalled within ball bearings 30 carried by hump 42, and on its outer side with a corresponding recess 43, so arranged that when the parts are carried around to the upper position shown in Fig. 6, the pin or roller 39 will ride up on the hump 42 and thereby lift the dog out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

The shaft 29 has pinned thereon a sleeve 44 provided with a spline 45 which affords a sliding mounting for a clutch collar 46 provided with a groove 4! which receives a yoke 48 on the end of a slidable adjusting bar 49 terminating in a handle 59, which permits the clutch collar to be moved tothe right or left as occasion may require. The clutch collar occupies the intermediate position between the hub of a large sprocket wheel 5| and a small sprocket wheel 52, preferably having half the number of sprocket teeth. and the opposite faces of the clutch collar are provided with clutch teeth or lugs 53, either set of which maybe thrown into engagement with clutch pins 54 inwardly projecting from the faces of the sprocket wheels 5| and 52 respectively, which' are freely journalled upon bushings 55 which surround the shaft 29. The clutch adjusting bar may be locked in adjusted position by a thumb screw 49*. V a a The arrangement is one which permits the dog carrying arm 35 to be slightly moved from the normal or idle position shown in Fig. 6, with the contacts the high point of an eccentric disk 55 mounted on the shaft 29.

This single rotation of the shaft 29 may be imparted either to the large sprocket wheel 5| or the small sprocket wheel 52, depending upon the adjustment of the clutch collar, which in Fig. 7 occupies the neutral or nonengaging position. In this manner, depending upon th clutch adjustment, a single rotation will be imparted to the selected sprocket, which movement is availed of for the purpose of actuating the strip feeding and cutting mechanisms either for a single cycle or for two cycles of operation, depending upon the clutch adjustment, and in a manner now to be described. 3

The large sprocket wheel 5| mounts an endless sprocket chain 56, and the small sprocket wheel 52 mounts an endless sprocket chain 51. Each of the sprocket chains passes over an adjustable idler 58 carried by a depending bracket 59 and slotted to permit adjustment to regulate the tension of the chains. The sprocket chain 56 is carried around a sprocket wheel 50 rigidly but adjustably secured to a cam shaft Bl (Fig. 8), and the sprocket chain 51 is likewise carried around a similar sprocket wheel 62 rigid but adjustable on the cam shaft. The cam shaft is journalled at its ends within ball bearings 63 mounted within brackets 64, and the cam shaft occupies an intermediate position between the shafts 25 and 29, as shown in Fig. 5.

The cam shaft has rigidly mounted thereon a collar 65 provided with an outwardly extending stop pin 66, and adjacent the collar is a trip hub 61 provided with radially extending trip fingers B8 and 69, either of which may project upwardly through the gap between the table plates which afford a runway for the cartons. The trip hub is yieldably mounted upon the cam shaft 6| through the connection afforded by a coil spring 10, the outer end of which is secured to a lug H rigid on the cam shaft. As shown in Fig. 5, the cam shaft is provided at its outer end with an extension 12 carrying a knurled knob '13, which permits the shaft and the parts carried thereby to be rotated slightly for the purpose of adjusting the device to bring either the trip finger 68 or the trip finger 69 into the upwardly projecting position, for a purpose to be presently explained.

The cam shaft 6| corresponds in its driving function to the shaft 23 of Patent No. 2,116,259. and is the shaft which affords power for the actuation of the strip feeding and cutting devices. As shown in Figs. 1 and 8, the cam shaft has mounted thereon at one end a cam 14 corresponding to the cam 59 of the patent, which cam engages a roller 15 carried by a slotted arm 16 pivoted at its upper end to a bracket I1 out wardly extending from a pivoted frame 18 which carries a knife blade F9 for severing sections from a gummed strip which is fed downwardly from a roll 80 through the action of a feeding roll 8! actuated by a dog and ratchet 82 of the character illustrated and described in Patent No. 2,116,259. The dog is carried at the upper end of a pivoted arm 83, the lower end of which, as shown in Fig. 8, is slotted to embrace the end of the cam shaft, and the arm 83 carries a roller 84 which rides upon a cam 85 fixedly mounted upon the cam shaft.

The strip is held in close contact with the surface of the feed roll 8| by contact of a pressure roll 86, and the strip section, after being moistened and severed, is forced against the surface of the carton by a pressure roll 81. The construction of this portion of the mechanism is identical with that of Patent No. 2,116,259, and it is not deemed necessary to describe these fea' tures in further detail.

Operation to bring the trip finger 59 into the upstanding position shown in Fig. 6. This partial rotation of the cam shaft 6| will bring the cams T4 and 85 into properly timed relation to regulate the feeding and severing of the strip sections, so that the severed strip sections will arrive at the sealing position in proper time to be adhered to the center of each dozen carton in turn.

The adjusting of the cam shaft 6| will also impart -a rotative movement through the sprocket chains 56 and 51 to the sprockets 5| and 52, but these sprockets being unclutched at the time will not impart any movement to the shaft 2.9 which carries the clutch dog 36. However, in properly. adjusting the machine to permit the teeth of the intermediate clutch collar 45 to engage with the pins 54 of the respective sprockets, it may be necessary to effect a proper adjustment of the sprockets 5i and 52, which is permitted by reason of the fact that the sprockets 69 and 62 are held rigidly upon the cam shaft 6| by the use of set screws or the like, so that proper adjustments can be made to insure the engagement of the clutch when the machine is ready to operate through power derived from the constantly rotating tubular shaft or ratchet sleeve 29.

With the trip finger 69 elevated, and with the clutch bar 49 moved to the right to engage the sprocket 52, the machine will be set to operate as soon as a dozen carton arrives in position to engage and depress the trip finger. The depression of the trip finger will impart a slight initiatory rotation to the cam shaft GI and through the sprocket chain 51 and the sprocket 52 and clutch collar 46 to the shaft 29 which carries the mounting for the dog 36. This initiatory movement will allow the dog pin or roller 39 to slip down beyond the hump 42, which permits the dog to spring inwardly into engagement with the constantly rotating clutch ratchet teeth 33, and from that point on the rotation of the shaft 29 will continue under power derived from the carton feeding mechanism, so that the carton itself will be relieved from the burden of transmitting movement to the strip sealing and cutting devices. The movement'will continue through a single revolution and until the dog pin or roller again rides up on the hump 5,2, which retracts the dog and terminates the movement at the proper point and under the action of the brake, which prevents the dog from overriding the hump.

When it is desired to aflix two: seals or labels to a twin or double half dozen carton, it is necessary to readjustthe cam shaft El to bring the trip finger 68 into the upstanding position, which has the effect of advancing the timing of the strip feeding and cutting mechanism in order to apply two strips or seals, each in a center position, upon the sections of the twin carton. It is also necessary to readjust the clutch 46 to engage the larger sprocket 5|, So that each rotation of said sprocket will impart two rotations to the cam shaft 6| in order to effect two cycles of operation of the strip feeding and cutting mechanisms. With the parts thus readjusted, each twin carton will trip the mechanism in the manner previously described and set the same in operation to apply two centrally located seals to each twin carton during its period of movement through the sealing region.

When the trip finger 69 is elevated, as in Fig. the advancing carton will slip over the trip finger 68, but the trip fingers being yieldably mounted will permit the finger 68 to thus remain below the level of the advancing carton without forcing the same upwardly and. until the shaft 6| is rotated sufiiciently to permit the trip finger to escape from beneath the carton.

The mechanism is one which by proper adjustengaged with the constantly rotating clutch'element when the trip member is. actuated 1 by an advancing carton, two driving trains of differing speed ratios between the normally idle member and the devices for feeding and severing the strip, and clutch means for selectively establishing clutch engagement between said'normally idle member and either of the driving trains.

6. In sealing mechanism of the class described, in combination with devices for feeding an adherent strip and severing sections therefrom and applying the same to a carton, constantly operated power means for advancing cartons to the sealing position, a constantly rotating shaft in train with the carton advancing means and provided with ratchet teeth, a normally idle shaft in adjacent relation to the constantly rotating shaft, a member mounted on said normally idle shaft and carrying a dog adapted to be moved to position to engage said teeth, a guide for normally holding said dog out of engagement with said teeth and configured, when the dog is rotatively moved, to permit the dog to engage said teeth, a trip member normally standing in position to be engaged and tripped by an advancing 4 carton and adapted when tripped to move the dog to position to engage said ratchet teeth, and a transmission train between said normally idle shaft and the means for feeding and severing the strips to actuate the latter when the dog is moved to ratchet engaging position.

'7. In sealing mechanism of the class described, in combination with devices for feeding an adherent strip and severing sections therefrom and applying the same to a carton, constantly operated power means for advancing cartons to the sealing position, a constantly rotating shaft in train with the carton advancing means and provided with ratchet teeth, a normally idle shaft in adjacent relation to the constantly rotating shaft, a member mounted on said normally idle shaft and carrying a dog adapted to be moved to position to engage said teeth, a guide for normally holding said dog out of engagement with said teeth and configured, when the dog is rotatively moved, to permit the dog to engage said teeth, a trip member normally standing in position to be engaged and tripped by an advancing carton and adapted when tripped to move the dog to position to engage said ratchet teeth two transmission trains of differing speed ratios between said normally idle shaft and the means for feeding and severing the strips to actuate the latter when the dog is moved to ratchet engaging position, and means for selectively engaging either of said transmission trains with the normally idle shaft.

8. In a sealing mechanism of the class described, in combination with devices for feeding an adherent strip and severing sections therefrom and applying the same to a carton, constantly operated power means for advancing cartons to the sealing position, a rotatably adjustable cam shaft provided with cam means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices, a trip device mounted upon said cam shaft and provided with a plurality of fingers and adapted to be adjusted by the rotation of said shaft to bring either of said fingers into position to be engaged and moved by an advancing carton, a constantly rotating shaft in train with the carton advancing means, a normally idle shaft in cooperative relation to the constantly rotating shaft, clutch devices adapted to engage the constantly rotating shaft with the normally idle shaft, and power transmission connections between the normally idleshaft and the cam shaft, the parts'beingso relatedthat'whenan advancing carton contacts and moves the selectively positioned trip finger the clutch devices will be actuated to establish clutching engagement between the constantly" rotating shaft and the normally idlesha'ft I V 9. In sealing mechanism of the "class described, in combination with devices 5 for feeding an 'adherent strip ia'nd s'e'verin'g sections therefromi and applying the same to a carton, constantly op! erating power driven mechanism for advancing cartons to the sealing position, means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices, a trip member normally projecting within the path of the advancing cartons and adapted to be engaged and tripped thereby, a constantly rotating driven member in train with the carton feedin mechanism and carrying a clutch element, a normally idle member carrying a clutch element adapted to be engaged with the constantly rotating clutch element when the trip member is actuated by an advancing carton, two driving trains of differing speed ratios between the normally idle member and the devices for feeding and severing the strip, and clutch means for selectively establishing clutch engagement between said normally idle member and either of the driving trains.

10. In sealing mechanism of the class described, in combination with devices for feeding an adherent strip and severing sections therefrom and applying the same to a carton, constantly operating power means for advancing cartons to the sealing position, means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices, a trip device provided with two fingers and adapted to be adjusted to bring either of said fingers into position to be moved by an advancing carton, a constantly operating transmission element in train with the carton advancing means, a normally idle transmission element in cooperative relation with the constantly operating transmission element, clutch devices adapted to engage the constantly operating transmission element with the normally idle transmission element, transmission connections of differing speed ratio between the normally idle transmission element and the means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices, and means for effecting selective engagement between said transmission connections and the normally idle transmission element, the parts being so related that the adjustment of the fingers Will impart correlated adjustment to the means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices to insure the proper centering of the severed sections on the cartons, and the trip device being so positioned that when an advancing carton contacts and moves the selectively positioned trip finger the clutch devices will be actuated in properly timed relation to establish clutching engagement between the constantly operating transmission element and the normally idle transmission element.

11. In sealing mechanism of the class described, in combination with devices for feeding an adherent strip and severing sections therefrom and applying the same to a carton, constantly operating power means for advancing cartons to the sealing position, means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices, a trip device provided with two fingers and adapted to be adjusted to bring either of said fingers into position to be moved by an advancing carton, a

impart correlated adjustment to the means for actuating the strip feeding and severing devices to insure the proper centering of the severed sections on the cartons, and the trip device being so positioned that when an advancing carton contacts and moves the selectively positioned trip finger the clutch devices will be actuated to establish clutching engagement between the constantly rotating shaft and the normally idle 10 shaft.

RAYMOND 

